The monthly report, which has a two-month lag, says values in the county dropped 1.1 percent from December to January, the sixth month-to-month drop in a row. Prices fell 5.3 percent when comparing January to a year ago; that decrease signals a year's worth of year-over-year declines.

San Diego's prices are about 3 percent above the current cycle's low in April 2009 and 40 percent below the peak in November 2005.

Case-Shiller analysts say there's price weakness in most of the 20-areas featured in the monthly index, with few exceptions. The decline between summer 2006 peaks through January for all areas is 34.4 percent; January's price levels mark a new low in the current housing cycle. The report says eight areas -- Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Las Vegas, New York, Portland, Seattle and Tampa -- recorded new lows. Atlanta had the worst year-over-year drop, at 14.8 percent.

The only areas that showed increases year-over-year were Denver, Detroit and Phoenix. Miami, Phoenix and Washington D.C. were the only places that recorded month-to-month gains.